Secrecy
by DarkDreamer56
Summary: NickWarrick friendship, implied NS. Warrick discovers that Nick and Sara have been hiding something from everyone around them, and he's about to find out why. A late response to Emily's Secrecy challenge.


Title: Secrecy  
Author: DarkDreamer56  
Archive: If you want it, ask please!  
Rating: T  
Pairings: N/S, Nick/Warrick/Sara friendship  
Disclaimer: I don't own them, but if I did, oh the possibilities…  
Spoilers: nothing specific, but anything up to Season 7 is fair game.

A/N: This is a rather late response to Emily's Secrecy Challenge from the Yahoo group. Dedicated to Claire, who just posted a new story(!!!) and Julie, just because she rocks :)

* * *

"Hey Rick, Greg said you got an ID on our vic?"

Warrick eyed Nick suspiciously as he entered the layout room where Nick had spent the past few hours going over the clothing from their vic, trying to find anything he could to help identify where the woman had come from. Warrick had run with a lead from the blood soaked business card in her jeans pocket after working most of his previous shift trying to bring out any usable details from the business card, where he'd finally gotten a name, and following that with Vartaan had given them an ID.

But that wasn't the only piece of information that Warrick had discovered; apparently two of his friends had been keeping something from the rest of them, and Warrick was determined to find out why it had been such a secret.

"Yeah, Ivy Kline, local. Vartaan's on his way to talk to her husband."

Nick nodded absently and turned his attention back to the clothes in front of him. "Well, maybe the trace here will give us an idea where she was killed. I've got some powder substance here, some dirt too." Nick was talking more to himself than to Warrick, so he missed Warrick leaning up against the doorway and crossing his arms until the next time he looked up. "You gonna stand there all night and watch me solve the case, or are you gonna help out?"

Warrick raised an eyebrow. "Actually, I was gonna ask you when the hell you were gonna tell me you and Sara got married."

A second later, Warrick realized he probably shouldn't have surprised Nick like that when he had evidence out on the table, but Warrick was a little pissed that his friends had kept something like that from him. At least Nick had the good sense to start putting the evidence back into it's box while he avoided Warrick's question.

"Or maybe that you guys were even dating? Yeah, that business card, it was for a wedding chapel. The director of the chapel recognized a picture of the vic, said she had gotten married there a few weeks ago, that she had given him a hard time about almost every detail. Definitely stood out, but he couldn't remember her name. He did offer to look through his registration book, thought he'd recognize it if he saw the name, and I'll be damned if a particular page didn't catch my own eye…now how many Nicholas Stokes and Sara Sidles do you think are running around Vegas getting hitched?"

It wasn't that Warrick had a problem with Nick and Sara having a relationship with each other; he might be a bit protective of the both of them, that didn't meant that he didn't think that they were a good match for each other. But Warrick didn't like to be lied to, especially by two people that he considered to be good friends.

"You didn't tell us right away when you and Tina got married." Judging by the uncertainty in his voice, even Nick realized the flawed logic in that argument.

"Yeah, but you knew that we were dating long before that." Warrick sighed. "You saw what a _secret_ relationship did to Sara the first time around with Grissom. And you remember how well that worked out." It was no secret that the demise of Sara's relationship with their supervisor over a year ago was largely attributed to the fact that Grissom had been hesitant about revealing a relationship with his subordinate, despite the strong feelings he had for her. Most people didn't even find out about their relationship until Sara had already ended things; something that had caused some serious tension amongst the team, first for having been kept in the dark by people they considered to be close to, and second for Grissom not realizing how much he had hurt Sara by not valuing their relationship enough to take it public. "And you of all people should know that she deserves better." Warrick remembered how pissed Nick had been about the situation, and he couldn't believe that Nick would allow himself to end up in the same place barely a year later.

"Now wait just a second Warrick." Warrick had obviously struck a nerve, and watched as Nick pushed himself away from the layout table and stood up to face Warrick in the doorway. "Our situation is completely different from theirs. Neither of us is a subordinate to the other. I would never do anything to hurt her, and I'd never ask her to do something that she wasn't comfortable with."

Warrick sighed and realized he should probably move into the room and shut the door; he wasn't looking to fight with his friend, despite how hurt he felt about being kept out of the loop, but he did want to understand how everything had happened. "Okay man, you're right. I know you'd never hurt her, but I don't get why you guys weren't honest with us…"

Nick sighed, running his hand across the back of his neck in frustration, leaning against the wall and away from the layout table with all of their evidence. "She was skittish at first…all these guys have had crushes on her, everyone speculated on what her relationship with Grissom was or wasn't, and then when they were together…she was tired of turning a corner and hearing someone gossip about her personal life. Something I understood, by the way. And I didn't know what Grissom would do when he found out. So we decided not to say anything, see where things went…"

Warrick interrupted, wondering exactly how they had gotten to the point of deciding to hide a relationship. "What changed? You've had a thing for her for years, don't even try to convince me that you haven't, but I never thought you'd do anything about it." Warrick had seen a spark of something between Nick and Sara when Sara had arrived in Vegas, but after a year or two went by and neither acted on it, he figured it would never turn into anything, especially after Sara's debacle with Hank . Sara had her Grissom issues to work through after that, and Nick had become more withdrawn and serious after his kidnapping, and though they were pretty tight, he didn't expect either of them to cross that line with each other if they hadn't already.

Nick looked up briefly, met Warrick's eyes, and then shrugged. "We went running one day a couple months ago, rented a movie after. Movie wasn't that great, we started talking…I let it slip that I had been considering this job offer in Seattle."

Something else Warrick hadn't been aware of, though he wasn't that surprised by it; the past few years in Vegas had been rough for Nick. He nodded, crossed his arms in what he hoped was a non-threatening gesture, asking Nick to continue.

"Yeah, so she got quiet after that, but when the movie ended I looked over at her and she said that she'd really miss me if I left. The look on her face…I was thinking about leaving, but I wanted to know. So I went for it and prayed that I wasn't reading her wrong. Turns out, I read her pretty well." Nick smirking slightly and Warrick couldn't help but chuckle. He could imagine exactly how Nick had decided to go for it. "We agreed to keep things quiet, at least until we were sure that it was going to work out."

Warrick could understand, they'd both been burned by people in the past, they'd want to be sure that what was going on was going to last long enough to warrant shaking up things at work again, but it appeared that things had more than worked out, and still neither of them had said anything; that Warrick didn't get. "Well, it looks like it did, and this is still the first I've heard of it."

"By the time we knew it was going to work out, we knew that we wanted more…sure, it was only a few months, but we've known each other for years Warrick. I didn't have to figure out the things that piss her off, what makes her giggle, what she's like three days sleep deprived without coffee; I already knew. And I love her for all of it." Through most of their conversation, Nick had appeared sort of apologetic, at least acknowledging that Warrick had the right to be upset with Nick and Sara for what they had kept from everyone, but the look that Nick was giving Warrick now told him that Nick wasn't going to apologize for not wasting any more time than he and Sara already had. That look was the only thing keeping Warrick from ripping Nick a new one for getting married on the sly.

Warrick got what Nick wasn't saying; he and Tina had gotten married hastily, and it hadn't worked out, giving Warrick a rather cynical view on marriage, especially a marriage that came about after only a short amount of time together. Nick and Sara were not Warrick and Tina. They'd known each other for years, and though they hadn't dated long, they'd been close for years. But that didn't mean that Warrick couldn't question their method of going about getting married. "You still could have clued the rest of us in Nick. We would have been there for you guys," Warrick answered, his tone finally taking a softer turn. He was happy that Nick and Sara had finally figured things out, but he would have stood with them if he'd been given the chance, and he was pretty sure Greg, and even Catherine would have done the same.

Nick rubbed the back of his neck again. "Yeah, I know. That was kind of the problem."

Warrick rolled his eyes. "What could possibly be wrong with your friends wanting to be there for you when you get married?"

"Look man, she really didn't want a big wedding. Which my family is notorious for, by the way. Huge country club weddings with more people in the bridal party than work the night shift here. Sara started panicking. So we decided to get married here, something low-key at one of the more traditional places. And we wanted to tell you guys, we wanted you there, but my parents kept pushing the issue of a big wedding, and we tried to keep the peace. I didn't want her introduction to my family to be getting caught up in a huge wedding she didn't want. We figured if we just got married, it would be on our terms, and it wouldn't be an issue anymore. It was hard enough to convince them, but if we'd have had you guys there and not them…I'm sorry, and it probably sounds lame, but at the time it made sense to us."

Nick was right; there were about ten holes in their logic, but Warrick could at least understand where they were coming from. Still, something seemed a little off. Why wouldn't they have had Nick's parents at the ceremony? Even if they were pushing the idea of a big wedding, Warrick was pretty sure they would have flown up if Nick and Sara were dead set against it. And Warrick knew they were good enough friends, deception or not, that he could be blunt with his next question.

"Is she pregnant?"

"We did not get married because she's pregnant Warrick."

Warrick did not miss the rewording of his question in Nick's answer, or the way Nick's eyes shifted to a spot somewhere behind Warrick's head, and he smirked. "Still, not what I asked."

Nick looked up at Warrick, and Warrick's finely trained eye did not miss the light shining in Nick's eyes, and the slow grin overtaking his face. "That's not why we got married. I love her Warrick. And she loves me. Life's just too damn short to wait sometimes. I'm sorry that we didn't tell you guys, maybe we could have come up with a different way, but I'm not sorry about what happened."

Warrick could see how happy Nick was, and if he thought about it, he should have noticed sooner how happy Nick and Sara seemed to be. The investigator in him should have picked up on the signs, and the friend in him should have interpreted why.

He figured he had gotten all of the answers out of Nick that he could, and that it was only a matter of time before Greg or someone else came to check the status of their case. "Congratulations man. I am happy for you guys. Just next time, give us all a little credit alright?"

Nick grinned sheepishly and cleared his throat, before his expression became a little more serious. "Look Rick, I hate to ask you this after everything, but could you not…if you say something about us getting married, that's cool, but could you keep quiet about the baby for now?"

"Hey, it's your news to tell, all of it, but I think everyone will be happy for you." That wasn't quite true, Warrick wasn't sure which way Grissom would swing with that particular piece of information on top of everything else, but he had enough faith in his boss that Grissom would at least be professional about things. "Besides, it's not something that's she gonna be able to hide forever."

"We just want to make sure everything's alright." Nick's last statement raised a red flag in Warrick's mind, but Nick held up a hand and cut Warrick off before he even began to speak. "Everything's fine right now. But there's…" Nick trailed off, struggling to find the right wording. "A potential for complications. Not a big chance, but enough. We just want to wait awhile to tell everyone."

Warrick could see the worry clouding Nick's eyes, but he was encouraged by the hope and joy fighting there in the mix as well. It might be a bumpy road ahead, but Nick seemed to be truly happy that he and Sara were married, and that he was going to be a father in the next few months.

"I won't say anything until you guys do. And if you guys need anything…"

A knock at the door interrupted Warrick's offer, and when he turned around, he found the woman who had been the topic of much of their conversation standing on the other side of the door.

"Hey guys, I ran into Greg, told him I'd drop off the tox results on you vic for him," Sara greeted them, handing the papers in her hand to Warrick as she leaned against the doorjamb.

Warrick tried to hide the smirk when he realized that she was hovering, probably trying to get a minute alone with Nick. She smiled at both guys, but now that Warrick was in on the secret, it was plain as day to see her smile brighten when her focus fell to Nick. Nick grinned back at her, and Warrick couldn't help the chuckle that escaped before he rubbed his chin.

"What?" Sara asked self consciously, crossing her arms over her chest and looking between the two guys.

Nick smiled sheepishly. "Yeah, uh, we've been found out."

Sara's eyebrows shot up in surprise, and a panicked expression crossed her face as the meaning of Nick's statement quickly sunk in. Warrick decided to step in quickly; after what Nick had revealed, he didn't want to be the cause of any unneeded stress for Sara. "Nick and I had a chat, everything's cool. Congratulations girl. You just let me know if you ever need him straightened out, or if you get a sudden craving for pickles in the middle of shift."

Sara then did something that Warrick had seen maybe twice since he had first met her; her eyes got wide and glassy, and two tears rolled down her cheek before she started sniffling. "Thanks Warrick. And Nick, if you say one word about hormones, so help me God, I'll take Warrick up on his offer."

"Hey, I know you could kick my ass without Warrick's help, I'm not sayin' a word." But Nick did inch closer towards where she was standing as Sara wiped at her eyes.

"Looks like marriage has made you soft, man." Warrick tried to break the tension, but realized he should probably give Nick and Sara a moment alone together. "I'm gonna go find Greg, we'll meet you in Trace in fifteen?" Nick nodded, but his full attention was on his wife, who moved past the doorway and into the room. She smiled at Warrick, more composed than she had been the minute before. He laid his hand on her shoulder for a moment, smiling back, and then headed for the door.

By the time he'd shut the door behind him, Nick had already wrapped his arms around Sara, who seemed to have no problem with Nick's display of affection. Warrick considered it a risky move, seeing how many people were standing around the hallway as he headed towards the break room, but he figured that they probably knew that, and just didn't care at the moment. It was only a matter of time before people found out anyways.

Warrick was happy that his friends had found happiness with each other, and he would keep his word about not telling anyone before Nick or Sara got the chance. Not finding Greg in the break room, Warrick headed to the fridge and grabbed a soda. They wouldn't be able to keep their relationship a secret forever and Warrick figured that once the dust settled, everyone would be happy for them. Besides, he'd already decided that if he didn't see Nick in twenty minutes, he was sending Sanders out to find him. He'd promised not to say anything, but if someone happened to figure it out on their own, well that was a different story.

FIN.


End file.
